The Cyprus Shipping Chamber, as the trade association of the Shipping Industry in Cyprus, signed the Neptune Declaration on Seafarer Wellbeing and Crew Change, together with a number of its Member-Companies and joined the worldwide call to action to end the unprecedented crew change crisis caused by Covid-19.

The Cyprus Shipping Community, once again sent the message that the issue of crew changes, which is still unresolved in many countries, with thousands of seafarers on board for several months after the expiration of their employment contracts, without being able to be replaced by other crew members and be repatriated, needs to be resolved the soonest.

The signatories of the Neptune Declaration, which are more than 300 shipping companies and organizations worldwide and growing, recognize that they have a shared responsibility based on their roles across the entire maritime value chain, and beyond, to ensure that the crew change crisis is resolved as soon as possible.

They Neptune Declaration on Seafarer Wellbeing and Crew Change  defines four main actions to facilitate crew changes and keep global supply chains functioning:

• Recognize seafarers as key workers and give them priority access to Covid-19 vaccines
• Establish and implement gold standard health protocols based on existing best practice
• Increase collaboration between ship operators and charterers to facilitate crew changes
• Ensure air connectivity between key maritime hubs for seafarers

The Shipping Chamber and its Members, have remained committed to their responsibility to take care of their Seafarers and expect that this worldwide plea will stimulate the prompt response of Governments and Port Authorities to work together with the global Shipping Industry in order to find acceptable solutions to this ongoing issue.